LOVEGROVE, Donald Allan

March 11, 1931- June 8, 2018

Don passed away at Joseph Brant hospital at the age of 87. Predeceased by his wife Barbara in 2016, he is survived by his children Linda (Mike Baxter), Wayne, and Randy (Bev Benham), and grandchildren Kimberly Andrews (Chris), Brian Benham (Sarah), Brad Benham, and Steve Benham (Mojan Hamed). He had recently met his great-granddaughter Flora for the first time. A lifelong resident of Burlington, Don retired from the Hamilton Spectator in 1991 after 37 years. He started in the composing room before transferring as a reporter in the Burlington Bureau, and then spent over 30 years in the Sports Department. He was proud of his work as a sports writer, and well into his retirement was often recognized around town. During his career he covered Olympic, Pan-Am and Commonwealth Games, Grey Cups, a variety of National Championships and countless events involving professional competitors. But his involvement with amateur athletes offered special satisfaction, and he was honoured for bringing the story of amateur sport to readers daily in the Spectator by the Canadian Amateur Sport Federation, and was inducted into the Mohawk College Athletics Hall of Fame. Soccer was his favourite sport, as a fan, a coach, and a reporter. Inducted into the Hamilton Soccer Hall of Fame in 2014, his largest soccer assignment was the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, where he witnessed the “Hand of God” goal by Diego Maradona: he recalled that goal and the score of the game in his last weeks in hospital, when other details were hazy in his memory. The family would like to thank the staff and residents at Lakeshore Place, where Don had been living comfortably since December 2016, and ask that charitable contributions be directed to the Heart and Stroke Foundation or Carpenter Hospice (he was eternally grateful for the care Barb received there). Visitation at SMITH’S FUNERAL HOME, 485 Brant Street (one block North of City Hall), BURLINGTON (905-632-3333), on Sunday, June 17 from 7-9 p.m. Service will be held in the funeral home chapel on Monday, June 18 at 10:30 a.m.